


Lena's First Stand

by lenasmagic (dimensionhoppingrose)



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Anxiety, F/F, Some comfort, avatar AU, blood tw, character death tw, temporarily but still
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:22:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21640891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimensionhoppingrose/pseuds/lenasmagic
Summary: -Ducktales/ATLA crossover-Cornered by her worst fears, Lena is left facing two choices, neither of which will end well for her - fight the person who ruined her life, or save the person who saved her?
Relationships: Lena (Disney: DuckTales) & Webby Vanderquack, Lena (Disney: DuckTales)/Webby Vanderquack
Comments: 5
Kudos: 102
Collections: Avatar Tales: A Ducktales AU





	Lena's First Stand

**Author's Note:**

> So this obviously part of a much bigger universe created by myself and a bunch of other fans on a Discord server. None of us have the attention span to actually *write* it, but there's art and some pretty well-thought out lore and we want to write *stuff*, just not a coherent story from beginning to end, so here it is. Everything will be compiled in a collection. It'll be fun, right?

If there was one town that would never stand for the Traditionalist crap, it was Duckburg.

Almost no one knew exactly why the group – said to be a myth by most people – had decided to rain hell down on the small town. Motives could be figured out later, however; right then, the priority was making sure the extremist group didn’t take over their town was more important.

“Lena, we have to go out there,” Webby said desperately, peeking out the window of the small shack they had hidden in. Lena was curled in a corner, her hands clasped to her ears as she shook. “They need help.”

“What am I supposed to do?” She sounded so scared. It broke Webby’s heart.

“I… I don’t know,” she admitted. “But you’re the Avatar, you-”

“I _what_?!” Lena looked up, tears in her eyes. “What does that even _mean_?! You keep talking about the Avatar and how important it is and how the Avatar _saves the world_. I’m not important! I can’t _save_ anything!”

“You don’t know that,” Webby said quietly. “I’ve seen some of the things you can do, Lena. You’re amazing. I know you can do it. I have faith in you.”

“ _Why_? Because I’m the _Avatar_?”

“No. Because you know how to survive.” Webby gently squeezed Lena’s arm. “You could have just given up at any time. But you were strong. You held on, and waited, and you escaped. You lived on your own for an entire year before you even found Duckburg. You’re _so strong_ , Lena. It doesn’t matter if you’re the Avatar or not. You were strong before you even knew what that was.”

Lena stared at Webby, wide-eyed. “Pink...”

“Oh how _sweet_.”

They both snapped around to look at the door – the only entrance and exit into their hiding place. And there stood Magica de Spell. Lena let out a strangled noise, pressing further into the corner; Webby jumped up, ready to fight.

“Get back, you old hag.”

“Old?!” Magica scowled, infuriated. “How dare you!”

“Webby, don’t-”

Too late. Webby drew her fist back and punched, fire forming on her fist; she added a jump, kicking out, and a wall of fire bared down on Magica. They were both stunned when she dodged, seemingly without issue. Webby whirled, readying herself to fire again, but a hand grabbed the back of her shirt, dragging her into the air.

“Webby!”

Lena scrambled up, head spinning as she tried to remember literally anything she had been taught. But it was all a blank.

“Uh uh uh,” Magica said teasingly, raising a hand, fingers curled. Webby tensed, pain burning in her muscles as they moved unnaturally, against her will. “You don’t want to hurt your little _friend_ , do you?”

“Let her go!”

Magica smirked. “If you insist.”

Webby dropped to the ground, stumbling as her legs moved unnaturally, and suddenly she jerked forward, her fist swinging out to punch Lena. Lena ducked, backing up. “Stop it!” she begged. “Let Webby go, _please_!”

A solid punch slammed into her temple, and she stumbled back, stars bursting to life in her eyes. “I’m sorry!” There were tears in Webby’s eyes. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I can’t-”

She came at Lena again, and this time Lena dodged, ducking around Webby, her head spinning. She whirled to look at Magica…

And the witch let out a strangled gasp her arms retracted, moving unnaturally. Webby collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath; it took a moment for her to pick herself up and look at the scene before her.

Lena was in front of her, hands outstretched and trembling, fingers curled just slightly, while Magica’s body contorted into unnatural shapes. It took Webby’s mind a moment to register what she was seeing.

 _Lena was bloodbending_.

Magica, surprisingly, laughed. “Does it feel good, _Lena_? All that power in your hands?” Her upper body was forced into a sickening bow – they could hear all her joints cracking. “You want revenge, don’t you? For all the terrible things I did to you? For the way I hurt you? Made you suffer?”

Lena’s beak was trembling, her hands frozen in front of her. She didn’t have to imagine the pain Magica was in – she _knew_. She knew that pain. She knew how it felt to have her muscles moved against her will, the way her blood seemed to burn in her veins, flowing unnaturally. The way her bones twisted and cracked. She still felt the pain. She would never stop feeling it.

Her hand sharply sliced down through the air, and Magica screamed as she was forced to her knees, forehead against her thighs.

 _How does it feel?_ She wanted to ask, but her throat was swollen shut. _To have your own body turned against you? To be twisted and warped and hurt and_ -

“Lena!”

She snapped out of her thoughts, turning to look at Webby, who was watching her with terror in her eyes. Fear.

 _She was afraid of Lena_.

Lena’s hands relaxed just slightly as the real world reasserted itself. What was she doing? She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t Magica. She--

Her limbs snapped together against her will, and she was yanked backwards, turning to face Magica, who grabbed her by the collar and smirked.

“You should’ve killed me when you the chance, Lena,” she sneered. “But you’re too soft, aren’t you?”

Lena tried to struggled, gritting her teeth. She could feel _It_ – the power of the spirits – growing inside of her, threatening to overtake her. No, she wouldn’t do that again, she wouldn’t--

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Magica sang as Lena’s eyes started to glow. “You might be soft, but _I_ am not.”

Neither of them saw where the staff came from. They weren’t aware of it at all until it was plunged into Lena’s chest and came out her back.

Webby’s voice cracked as she screamed. Lena just… hung on the staff, gaping. There had been a moment of pain, then nothing. She couldn’t even feel the staff in her chest. She couldn’t move her arms or legs.

 _She couldn’t breathe_.

“Well there’s fourteen years of work wasted,” Magica grumbled, shaking her head. “All that hard work for nothing-”

“Lena!” Webby tried to reach out, as if she could somehow save Lena. But she knew it was already too late. From the look of the staff's position, it had very likely severed her spine. And probably at least nicked her heart.

“Oh would you shut up?” Magica snapped. “I’ve earned this, I deserve at least five minutes. Although I’m guessing this one-” She wiggled her staff slightly; Lena’s limbs flopped lifelessly, “doesn’t have the luxury five minutes.”

She was right. Lena was suffocating, and bleeding; her vision was going in and out of focus, but she could see the blood pooling below her. There was so much of it…

She doesn’t feel the pain in her neck – she’s surprised there’s even any blood left to control – but suddenly her head was raised, looking right at Magica. “I want to watch the life drain out of your eyes,” she said with a smirk. “You’ve caused me enough trouble. I deserve to watch you die.”

Lena’s vision was starting to tunnel out; Magica seemed so far away. She still couldn’t breathe, but that seemed so… unimportant. Her eyelids flutter, vision blurring in and out. She can hear the steady drip drip of her blood in the growing pool…

Webby could only stare, eyes wide, a lump in her throat. She wanted to reach out, to take Lena and run far, far away, to save Lena…

But she was beyond that. Magica released her control on her head, and it fell to side.

“Hmph.” Magica grumbled, lowering the staff and watching, disinterested, as Lena slid off the staff, hitting the floor with a _thud_. Webby’s eyes followed her descent, and all she could do was stare. She wanted to cry, to scream, to light Magica on fire and watch her burn…

But all she could do was stare.

The door was blown open by a blast of air, revealing the triplets, all three ready to fight. They all stopped when they saw the scene before them.

“Hmn, seems to be getting a bit crowded in here,” Magica said, unconcerned. “And I have a lot of work to do now, water tribes to find, figure out which babies were born at this exact moment...”

She pulled a small metal ball from her coat as she spoke, and threw it at the closest wall; the ground shook as the ball exploded, blowing out the wall. Dewey reacted surprisingly fast, jumping to clear the smoke, and Huey followed Magica out of the hole, slamming his foot against the ground to raise a couple of good sized rocks. But there was still so much chaos outside. Magica had disappeared into the crowd.

Webby slowly crawled across the floor, resting a feather-light hand on Lena’s shoulder. She shook it. Nothing. “Lena?” Shoot it a little harder. “Lena, please. _Please_...”

Nothing. Webby’s hand moved to Lena’s cheek, turning her face. She was already so cold, her eyes half lidded, gaze glassy, staring at nothing. Tears filled Webby’s eyes. “Lena,” she whispered the name like a mantra. “Lena, Lena, Lena...”

She scooped Lena up – her granny always said not to move someone with a spinal injury, but did it matter? Lena was… – and hugged her tight to her chest, still whispering her name.

“Oh!”

Huey and Dewey looked to their brother, who was rifling through his coat pockets. “I’ve got – hang on-”

He pulled out the vial of water. His special spirit water. “ _Louie_!” Huey and Dewey yelled in one voice.

“This isn’t the time-”

“Just let me do this!” Louie snapped back, completely oblivious to the blood as he hurried to kneel with Webby and Lena. He met Webby’s gaze for a moment, and he knew… he just _knew_ that if this didn’t work, it would break her.

Louie popped the cork off the vial, twirling his free hand. The water raised out of the vial and, to everyone’s amazement, it began to glow. All eyes were on Louie now. He tried not to think about that as he lowered the water into the gaping wound on Lena’s back.

He had never healed anyone before. Had never even tried, really. He wasn't expecting to be pulled so hard into it; the water seemed to pull him forward, his hands coming to a rest on either side of the wound. There was so much blood. It still dripped sluggishly from the wound, no longer actively flowing. Was there any left in her body to sustain her?

He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth as he tried to pull the water under control. He was the waterbender. This was his thing. He had to do this right. The world needed the Avatar.

And, more importantly, Webby needed Lena.

It felt like an eternity before a weak, wet gasp broke the tension; Louie nearly jumped away when Lena’s back started moving under his hands. “Holy sh...” Dewey mumbled, mouth hanging open. That god damn water was _real_?

“C’mon,” Louie mumbled, face crinkled in pain, sweat forming on his forehead. “C’mon, _c’mon_...”

He’d brought her back to life. He’d stitched up her heart and roughly mended her spine – she would need a lot of time to recover, but she wouldn’t be paralyzed. But that was the end of his ability. The world was spinning when he opened his eyes, and Huey had to grab him before he fell over. “That’s all I can do,” he whispered. “I can’t close it all the way.”

But the wound was still bleeding, faster now that her heart was beating again. “We can find bandages,” Huey suggested, looking between his brothers. They already knew that wouldn’t help. The wound was too deep. Lena’s breathing was ragged, blood gurgling just slightly in each gasp. She wasn’t going to last. Not like this. They had to close the wound, they had to…

Oh! Heat. Fire. Granny had taught her about cauterizing wounds. They’d both hoped she would never have to use it.

Webby’s hand started to glow as it heated it up, and she closed her eyes, pressing it against the wound. Lena moaned, then started coughing. Dewey was the only one who saw the blood she was bringing up. Webby held her tighter as she settled again, her breathing evening just slightly.

The wound was closed when Webby pulled her hand away. The young firebender let out a small sob, pressing her face into Lena’s neck and letting her tears fall.

“We have to get back to the boat,” Huey said after a moment, pulling Louie up. Lena was _far_ from out of the woods. And they were exposed here. Lena and Louie were both down. It wasn’t safe. “Louie, can you walk?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Louie shook his head slightly. “How are we getting Lena back?”

Webby shifted, keeping one arm against Lena’s back and sliding the other under legs. She didn’t weigh much. Louie kept a hand on her shoulder to steady. Huey and Dewey exchanged looks, and nodded. It was on them to watch everyone’s backs until they got home.

This was one thing they all refused to mess up.


End file.
